Bible Lesson #1
Study
How We Got Our Bible
How the Word of God came to Be Written
Old Testament
The authors of Hebrew Scriptures are not as identifiable as those of the New Testament. The books arose in the midst of the law given by Moses and the prophets sent by God to the children of Israel. The first five books (the Law) were written by Moses almost entirely. The remainder of the Old Testament is composed of the prophets and writings in the Hebrew canon, whereas the English Bible includes the following categories: historical books, poetic books, and prophetic books. These books include such authors as Samuel, David, Joshua, Solomon, and major prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and a number of lesser-known figures who wrote smaller books called the Minor Prophets. Each of these authors presents his words as being the Word of God.
New Testament
The New Testament was written by apostles of Jesus Christ and companions of the apostles. Letters were written to individuals, churches, or larger groups of persons either to confirm the truth of Christianity, engender belief in Christ, correct problems in the local churches, or argue against error. The Book of Revelation also seeks to present God’s plans for the end of the age.
How the Inspired Writings Were Passed Down
Old Testament
The Old testament was written between 1440 B.C. and approximately 400 B.C. the Law of Moses was maintained in the Hebrew community by the priests of the temple. Later books continued to be deposited with these leaders until the destruction of the temple and then found their way into the teaching community begun by Ezra and continued in the synagogues. Trained scribed copied biblical texts by hand until the modern printing press came into use. The copies of the Masoretes of the ninth century A.D. are very close to the recently discovered Dead Sea Scrolls, which originated a thousand years earlier.
New Testament
The New Testament books were copied by local Christian communities and passed from one another for decades before an entire collection was made. Since the early letters were written on papyrus, they wore out rapidly and required regular copying. In the early fourth century A.D., fifty copies of the entire Old and New Testament Greek Scriptures were made at the order of the first Christian emperor, Constantine. It is likely that the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus codexes, two of the longest early manuscripts to survive, originated from this order.
What Is The Canon of Scriptures?
The word canon is a word used to identify the writings of the prophets, the apostles, and their companions, which are inspired by God and authoritative for truth pertaining to doctrine and life. It means “rule” or “standard”. A book is not inspired because it is declared to be canonical but is canonical because it is considered inspired. Therefore the church discovered the canonicity of the Old and New testament books, it did not determine or cause their canonicity.
How the Canon Was Decided
The books accepted by the Jewish community originated over a period of approximately one thousand years. The first question regarding writing’s acceptance was whether the book was written by a prophet of God. Generally the book would have statements of “thus says the Lord”, or “the word of the Lord came.” Second, miraculous signs or accuracy of fulfillment served confirmation of a prophet’s message. Third, the book had to be internally consistent with the revelation of God found in the teachings of other canonical books especially what God gave through Moses.
The first question for the church to answer about a book’s inclusion in the canon accepted by Christians was whether it came through the apostles of the Lord or through persons under the guidance of an apostle, such as Luke. Second, the book had to come with the power of God and be effective for changing lives. Third, it must have been generally accepted by the people of God. This latter test refers first to the ones who received the book and next to the transmission in the church. Determination of the New testament canon took place over a period of years, reaching its final form at the Synod of Carthage in 397.
The Manuscripts of the Bible
Old Testament
Fragments of the Hebrew Scriptures number in the tens of thousands, the majority dating between the third century B.C. and the fourteenth century A.D. The greatest attestation to the Hebrew Old testament is the manuscripts found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which mostly date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.
New Testament
Manuscript evidence for the New testament is abundant. There are more than five thousand existing copies, many with New testament books entirely or largely intact. Also there are several older translations of the New Testament into languages like Syriac, Coptic, and Latin that survive in thousands of manuscripts. No work of antiquity even approaches the New Testament for authenticity.
